There are many stories about the shmoozer, an individual I first addressed here yesterday. And to reiterate, I don't think he was a bad employee or person, just quite selective in the way he applied his talents and where and when. Beyond that, the busywork of business and technical issues were generally of no interest to him whatsoever.
But, as I wrote yesterday, business-wise this guy could find live one's at a morticians convention. To that extent, I don't know how or when, but the shmoozer came across a manufacturer of airplane parts. This business was immense. What's more, key to their operation were fully-automated, state-of-the-art, numerically controlled machines that were very, very expensive. And these folks not only had a building full of them, they needed more.
In time, the shmoozer was able to arrange an appointment with them -to talk about how we might be accommodative financing-wise, and I accompanied him on that initial visit.
To this day, I still remember that meeting vividly. Right after we arrived at the manufacturer's home location, the general manager took us on a tour. And, as we walked through their premises, what we viewed was awesome. There was equipment everywhere. Not only machinery used in the manufacturing process itself, but packaging machines, computer systems, palletizers and fork lift trucks, lot's of other automated stuff besides. This place was a Lessor's heaven.
After the tour was over the manager informed us that the business' owner's wished to meet with us. They held the company privately and wanted to be certain we were fully informed about their operation and also desired to answer any questions we might have themselves.
With that, we were ushered into a private conference room. Big, highly polished wooden table. Large, comfortable chairs, upholstered in luxurious saddle leather. Three walls covered with pictures, plaques and business photographs. A huge aerial shot of their extensive plant and surrounding property took up considerable space on one.
The fourth wall was a construction, floor to ceiling, wall to wall, of carefully placed aluminum parts. Countless samples of what the business produced. Aluminum airplane struts, girders, sprockets, gear wheels, housings, tubes, other intricately shaped items used for who knows what. The sizes of the various pieces in this magnificent aluminum mosaic varied from quite small, say a bolt or nut, to extremely large, a wing part perhaps. The structure was quite creative and extremely impressive to say the least. It wouldn't have been out of place in a museum of modern art.
As our meeting went on, I discussed various aspects of the business' operation and asked some routine questions about things listed in its financial statements. And these were the parts of customer calls that rarely, if ever, piqued the shmoozer's interest. Nonetheless, when given a chance to inquire directly of the owners of an enterprise like this, I myself was in no hurry to depart.
In time, the shmoozer not only lost interest in the proceedings, but found that the chair he was seated in rolled silently on some kind of casters. Not only that, it inaudibly spun on a swivel. Now, he didn't exactly go rolling around like some child in a toy car, but he did move forward and back a bit, and a couple of degrees off-center, swinging his seat slightly right and left.
With the conference droning on, the shmoozer became somewhat bolder in his travels in his chair, rolling forward until his belly touched the conference table and then gradually backing away -further each time. Sometime later, the shmoozer backed away to the extent that his chair-back hit a section of the aluminum mosaic of airplane parts, and guess what? They weren't glued together!
First a small piece of aluminum dropped with a quiet thud on the carpet. Then another. Then another after that. Momentarily, a chain reaction began as more parts became dislocated and in a very short while a huge portion, perhaps half, of the mosaic was dislodged and tumbling to the floor.
The shmoozer looked startled at first, then appeared terrified. The owners and their plant manager seemed to be in shock. I was mystified as to what to do next myself. Needless to say, no words could express the embarrassment and humiliation I felt as I sought to find some graceful way to apologize and quickly scramble out the door.
Some time later, as we were on the road and heading back to our office, the shmoozer leaned across and asked sincerely, "Mike, do you think we'll get that deal?"
That's it for today folks.
Adios
But, as I wrote yesterday, business-wise this guy could find live one's at a morticians convention. To that extent, I don't know how or when, but the shmoozer came across a manufacturer of airplane parts. This business was immense. What's more, key to their operation were fully-automated, state-of-the-art, numerically controlled machines that were very, very expensive. And these folks not only had a building full of them, they needed more.
In time, the shmoozer was able to arrange an appointment with them -to talk about how we might be accommodative financing-wise, and I accompanied him on that initial visit.
To this day, I still remember that meeting vividly. Right after we arrived at the manufacturer's home location, the general manager took us on a tour. And, as we walked through their premises, what we viewed was awesome. There was equipment everywhere. Not only machinery used in the manufacturing process itself, but packaging machines, computer systems, palletizers and fork lift trucks, lot's of other automated stuff besides. This place was a Lessor's heaven.
After the tour was over the manager informed us that the business' owner's wished to meet with us. They held the company privately and wanted to be certain we were fully informed about their operation and also desired to answer any questions we might have themselves.
With that, we were ushered into a private conference room. Big, highly polished wooden table. Large, comfortable chairs, upholstered in luxurious saddle leather. Three walls covered with pictures, plaques and business photographs. A huge aerial shot of their extensive plant and surrounding property took up considerable space on one.
The fourth wall was a construction, floor to ceiling, wall to wall, of carefully placed aluminum parts. Countless samples of what the business produced. Aluminum airplane struts, girders, sprockets, gear wheels, housings, tubes, other intricately shaped items used for who knows what. The sizes of the various pieces in this magnificent aluminum mosaic varied from quite small, say a bolt or nut, to extremely large, a wing part perhaps. The structure was quite creative and extremely impressive to say the least. It wouldn't have been out of place in a museum of modern art.
As our meeting went on, I discussed various aspects of the business' operation and asked some routine questions about things listed in its financial statements. And these were the parts of customer calls that rarely, if ever, piqued the shmoozer's interest. Nonetheless, when given a chance to inquire directly of the owners of an enterprise like this, I myself was in no hurry to depart.
In time, the shmoozer not only lost interest in the proceedings, but found that the chair he was seated in rolled silently on some kind of casters. Not only that, it inaudibly spun on a swivel. Now, he didn't exactly go rolling around like some child in a toy car, but he did move forward and back a bit, and a couple of degrees off-center, swinging his seat slightly right and left.
With the conference droning on, the shmoozer became somewhat bolder in his travels in his chair, rolling forward until his belly touched the conference table and then gradually backing away -further each time. Sometime later, the shmoozer backed away to the extent that his chair-back hit a section of the aluminum mosaic of airplane parts, and guess what? They weren't glued together!
First a small piece of aluminum dropped with a quiet thud on the carpet. Then another. Then another after that. Momentarily, a chain reaction began as more parts became dislocated and in a very short while a huge portion, perhaps half, of the mosaic was dislodged and tumbling to the floor.
The shmoozer looked startled at first, then appeared terrified. The owners and their plant manager seemed to be in shock. I was mystified as to what to do next myself. Needless to say, no words could express the embarrassment and humiliation I felt as I sought to find some graceful way to apologize and quickly scramble out the door.
Some time later, as we were on the road and heading back to our office, the shmoozer leaned across and asked sincerely, "Mike, do you think we'll get that deal?"
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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